World Within A World

Master of surreal world, Haruki Murakami is one of the greatest novelists writing in the 21st century. Mainly focused on depicting a parallel world in the midst of the crowed street, his world has two moons, disappearing cats, musical allusions, deep dark chasm with a labyrinth. His mastery lies in his words, and how with subtle strokes he paints loneliness and emotional disturbance within the characters. Here are a few novels which help us to apprehend the world Murakami depicts.

Kafka on the shore: Best known for this novel, Murakami proves to be one of the best contemporary writers of his time. Deeply rooted with philosophical ideas the story narrates the tale of Kafka in Oedipus avatar, and Nakata, an old man capable to converse with cats. Their individual journey intertwines in a complicated way leaving the novel hard to describe at the end. Fish falling from sky, cat killer as Johnny walker are the subtle details which will leave you in amazement.

Sputnik sweetheart: This one centred around the story of Sumire and Miu, with a melancholy tone running in the background. The plotline gets intense as Murakami shatters the line between dream and reality. He leaves the story open ended, as the readers get the opportunity to fathom on the idea of people vanishing into their individual worlds. “You are optimistic one moment, only to be racked the next by the certainty that it will all fall to pieces. And in the end it does.”

After Dark: Among other celebrated novel this one may seem fall short to many, but personally I feel this is the best book on the metaphor of darkness. With the poetic style Murakami offers us a descriptive narration of the night. In the midst of busy street of Tokyo, the nightlife seems to be dazzling , but underneath remains the deep dark caverns that engulf people at a time. Just before midnight we are introduced with Mari who meets random strangers. The plots shifts another dimension when her sister is introduced sleeping for two months in her bedroom. And some strange business is going on there. Master of uncanny Murakami juxtaposed strange happening with everyday simplicity as if nothing is strange and it’s quite normal. But things get complicated with the progress of the novel; finally resolving a few things with the rising light of dawn. “In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature - or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organism.”

Hence it can be said, the world he creates is almost the same we are living in and it’s quite ordinary to find talking cats, terrestrial subways leading to another world if we have the inner eyes to see it.